Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Police sanitized poor recruit results

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsPolice sanitized poor recruit resultsThe Dominion Post reported that a paper by the police human resources general manager, Wayne Annan, appeared to have sanitised the results of recruits, and the Prime Minister and public might have been misled in the process. So not only is the 19 weeks to be a cop inadequate to begin with, they are now trying to hide how low the standards for recruits have dropped, and all of this is wrapped up in a non-transparent complaints process so that when Cops do go over the top their code of silence won’t ever be exposed. And this all in a year where top cops were on trial for ritualistic sado-masochistic gang rape charges, and the Police wonder how they seem to have lost the Public confidence.

Pippa Wetzell favourite to replace Breakfast's Gregory

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsPippa Wetzell favourite to replace Breakfast's GregoryReporter Pippa Wetzell is a contender to become Paul Henry's third co-host on the couch of Breakfast after the sudden exit of Kay Gregory. TVNZ head of news and current affairs Anthony Flannery said this month that there were plans to improve Breakfast, which has been criticised because of a lack of rapport between Gregory and Henry. Pippa Wetzall is so lite weight, having her on Breakfast will be like waking up to Paris Hilton doing investigative reporting on global issues, Gregory is Mum and Paul is Dad, and the lack of rapport is the only sort of response one can have towards some of Pauls less lucid moments when the talkback host starts up with his usual right wing rhetoric.

So goodbye Kay, they’ve put the old duck out to slaughter and TVNZ thinks a pretty blonde will make things better. Silly old TVNZ, here’s to the end of an era, which reminds me of a James K Baxter poem Ballad of Calvery Street…

On Calvary Street are trellisesWhere bright as blood the roses bloom,And gnomes like pagan fetishesHang their hats on an empty tombWhere two old souls go slowly mad,Labour Mum and National Dad.

Third of Iraqis 'need urgent aid'

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsThird of Iraqis 'need urgent aid'Nearly a third of the population of Iraq is in need of immediate emergency aid, according to a new report from Oxfam and a coalition of Iraqi NGOs. The report said the government was failing to provide basics such as food and shelter for eight million people. It warned of a humanitarian crisis that had escalated since the 2003 invasion. Meanwhile, the US agency overseeing reconstruction in Iraq said economic mismanagement and corruption were equivalent to "a second insurgency".Hasn’t this war for freedom and democracy gone swimmingly folks? What were the bullshit excuses again, oh that’s right there were those weapons of mass destruction that didn’t exist, there were the nukes that didn’t exist there was the global threat that didn’t exist, and what are the reasons for staying now – ‘we’ve made such an abortion out of this murderous war on a former CIA client regime, that the people have become so radicalized against us that if we leave they will come after us’, I mean in terms of self-justification this has to take some type of award, we have to stay because we lied. And why does any of this matter for us in sleepy NZ, well when some angry, furious young alienated Muslim decides to strike back at the West with some horror terrorist attack, let’s not pretend we don’t know why this time.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Another story that has NOTHING to do with global warming

It can't be much fun for climate deniers, first there is this pesky science that keeps tripping up their oil sponsored side of the story and then there is the whole existential angst caused when they start to consider whether their much vaunted consumer capitalism has exacerbated greed to such a new and unprecedented level that it is causing the planet (their home) to die.

Just to add more angst, here is the latest research showing that global warming is contributing to more hurricanes. Of course this has nothing to do with global warming. At all.

Hurricane boost 'due to warm sea'A new analysis of Atlantic hurricanes says their numbers have doubled over the last century.The study says that warmer sea surface temperatures and changes in wind patterns caused by climate change are fuelling much of the increase. Some researchers say hurricanes are cyclical and the increase is just a reflection of a natural pattern. But the authors of this study say it is not just nature - they say the frequency has risen across the century.

Bigot for Mayor - Banks in early lead over Hubbard

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsBigot for Mayor - Banks in early lead over HubbardDick Hubbard faces an uphill battle to break the bogey of one-term mayors in Auckland City with a Herald-DigiPoll survey showing his old rival John Banks leaping to an early lead. Some of the things that have come out John Banks mouth over the years could lead some to conclude that he is a homophobic bigot, however Banksie supporters will tell you that he has mellowed into a moderate bigot, well that’s okay then, he’s a moderate bigot. Let the man run NZs most cosmopolitan city, he’s only half the homophobe he was when he was last in power, any pretence that Aucklanders are a more enlightened lot than their provincial brothers and sisters will turned on its latte sipping head if Banks gets elected, the horror of course is that with Auckland increasingly becoming a gentrified country club for rich people and it’s outright old boy baby boomer cronyism network is more powerful than ever, the king of the old boys, John Banks, will probably get more done than any mere millionaire cereal maker outsider. Joy.

National scandal – another baby beaten

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsNational scandal – another baby beatenA second Rotorua child - a 12-week-old baby - is in the Starship with suspicious head injuries. Last week, 3-year-old Nia Glassie was flown to the children's hospital in Auckland with serious head and abdominal injuries, allegedly caused by months of abuse, which included being put in a tumble dryer. We have a deep problem in this violent country with abuse towards children, there is an underclass who have not shared in the middle class consumer dreams of property speculation, plasma TVs and cosmetic surgery, their reality is far removed from the neighbourhoods that media people live in and so are never reflected or examined until a helpless child is killed, and when that happens a dark anger swamps talkback stations with talk of ‘them’ and ‘their problem’ and even in the most tasteless moments a joke between red-necked host and red-necked caller on how Sue Bradfords bill was supposed to ban this (quo giggling from talkback host). The reality is that we don’t want to hear the answers and that we refuse to ask the right questions – we refuse to think of what life must be like in these abandoned and broken neighbourhoods, we write it all off with ‘I’m poor, and I don’t beat my kids (much)’, as if that explains and writes off any serious examination of the environment that is producing this abuse, and to even merely question anything other than ‘they should get the bash in prison’ risks getting you labeled politically correct, and while we squabble babies get beaten because we refuse in our anger to look at the root cause. We are not adult enough in this country to have an adult discussion on this issue.

Hey, I know, let’s give the crazy people MORE guns

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsHey, I know, let’s give the crazy people MORE gunsThe Bush Administration is expected to announce a massive series of arms deals in the Middle East tomorrow which is being seen as part of a diplomatic offensive against the growing influence of Iran in the volatile region. The centrepiece of the deals is an agreement between the US and a group of Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia, which could be worth at least US$20 billion according to news reports. At the same time 10-year military aid packages will be renewed with Israel and Egypt. The countries who receive the aid have to spend the money on American Military companies, the companies in turn fund the political parties, and the politicians keep voting through what is effectively the most obscene corporate welfare for death merchants the world gets to witness. Can anyone believe that this situation in the middle east will be made one inch better by giving everyone more deadly guns all the while America creams corporate profits by being the middle man, it’s enough to make one puke.

Inquiry urged as doctor flies to India

Alt Tv Fleet/FM Breakfast NewsInquiry urged as doctor flies to IndiaAustralian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews is facing calls for an inquiry into his handling of the Mohamed Haneef case, as he defended his decision not to reinstate the Indian doctor's work visa. Whenever someone complains about unrestricted terror powers, some comfy middle class voice always calls out that they are happy to let them go through because ‘they are innocent and have nothing to hide’, indeed it becomes part of the mantra from officials used to defend increased police powers ‘If you are innocent, you have nothing to fear’ – well Mohamed Haneef was innocent, his SIM card was not in the car that blew up in Glasgow, it was 300kms away, he wasn’t planning to blow up Gold Coast apartments, that was a lie, but because he is brown and Muslim somehow his rights and the erosion of them don’t matter.Advance Australia Fair.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

The Sunday Newspaper Brunch Club

STORY 1 – Mortgage about to bite hardIn the next 12months, 30% of mortgage holders will come off 7% fixed interest rates to interest rates over 10%, how will NZers cope? As the property market is superheating will we see people being thrown out onto the street? Will the way of dealing with the poor stoop to these new levels? Funeral director threatens to exhume body over unpaid billA Rotorua funeral director has threatened to exhume the body of a teenager because his family has not paid his funeral bill. Richard Bennison of Gray's Funeral Services says he would not be allowed to dig up the teenager's grave but had hoped the threat would prompt the family to pay. The teenager's older sister said Bennison "gave me the impression that it would happen".

STORY 2 – Another child abusedNia Glassie was apparently beaten by those who should have protected her, and we have words like ‘subculture’ getting muttered and Wanganui mayor Michael Laws, in his Sunday Star-Times column today, writes: "These are sick perversions from a Maori subculture which is protected on a daily basis by their ethnicity” – do we want to understand the reasons why this happens or do we get too angry to even look at the issue?

STORY 3 – When child abuse is okayNet porn hits Aussie quarantine service. Eleven Australian quarantine officers have been sacked and another 14 have resigned for calling up and storing pornography on work computers, with some of the material involving children. The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service has investigated 71 of its staff from Sydney, Darwin and Perth after being tipped off last September about widespread abuse of the computer system. The federal agency also fined 25 officers and reprimanded nine, while five had their salaries reduced. One officer is receiving counselling and six are yet to have their reprimand determined in the investigation, which is continuing. 25 out of 70, that’s over a third of Quarantine officers using porn including child porn, yet there is no suggestion here this is a national emergency that demands the army and police becoming involved and the loss of land rights for 5 years.

STORY 4 – But he’s a terrorist'Terrorist' doctor goes free. Australia has released terrorism suspect Mohammed Haneef after the collapse of the case claiming he supported relatives implicated in last month's failed bombings in Britain. Federal Director of Public Prosecutions Damien Bugg yesterday dropped a charge of recklessly providing resources to a terrorist organisation against the 27-year-old doctor who was arrested on July 2. And Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews further backed down from his earlier determination to deport Dr Haneef on character grounds, instead releasing him from detention. But I thought he was a terrorist who recklessly supported terrorism, is there a charge of recklessly charging someone with recklessly supporting terror?

STORY 5 – Dozens of Afghan civillians die in air raidsDozens of civilians, including women and children, have been killed in two foreign air strikes in southern Afghanistan, residents and a local member of parliament said on Friday. One of the raids by NATO hit houses in the Girishk district of Helmand province killing up to 50 civilians, a group of some 20 residents reported to journalists in Kandahar, the main city in the south. Wali Jan Sabri, a parliamentarian from Helmand, said he had credible information that between 50 to 60 civilians had been killed in a battle between the Taliban and NATO forces in Girishk. He said most of the victims were killed in air strikes. Are we doing anything good by remaining in Afghanistan?

Friday, July 27, 2007

This doesn't look like freedom democracy

I've always found that people who supported the Iraq war usually turn out to be climate deniers, now we don't get much voicing of support for Iraq on this site, but plenty of climate deniers, any chance any of them could trawl through their list of expired justifications for America's pre-emptive doctrine and help me out here, where is that Freedom Democracy you cats promised us?Crisis warning on Iraq refugeesThe scale of the exodus of refugees fleeing violence in Iraq has prompted a "humanitarian crisis", a conference in Jordan has heard. More than two million Iraqis have left their war-ravaged homeland. The UN says about 50,000 more people leave Iraq each month, mostly to Jordan and Syria which want international help to ease the burden on their services. The UN refugee agency says the mass displacement is threatening the region's stability. It says the wave of displacement sparked by the war in Iraq is the biggest in the Middle East since 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled the newly created Israel.

The largest refugee crises since the Palestinians fled Israel - my god, anyone else feel a shiver when you read that? America is fucking up beyong belief - Bush is now actually destabilising the region, not by machiavellian design, but by pure eye watering to witness stupified ignorance all caused and exacurbated by his own hand.

Police on cell bashing charges

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsPolice on cell bashing chargesThe victim of an alleged bashing by four police officers says he feared for his life when they hit him with batons and squirted pepper spray through vents into a closed cell. Rawiri Falwasser said that after he was soaked with pepper spray, the officers attacked him with batons. One struck him on the top of his head, splitting it open. The stench of pepper spray made other officers in the area outside the cell retreat, and a doctor called to treat Mr Falwasser could not see him through the fog of spray. Senior police and Corrections officers called to investigate the Whakatane case have condemned the actions of the four officers, saying Mr Falwasser posed no threat. The use of batons and pepper spray in the confined space contravened police regulations and the Crimes Act. Witnesses, including doctors who treated Mr Falwasser, said the cell was covered in blood. Here is the interesting thing about this case, all the police colleagues, even a mental health nurse parroted the bullshit defense they had all learned off by heart claiming it was Falwasser’s fault, so the chances of this case having even got this far is an achievement when you realize how deep the code of silence over police violence runs in our dear little country, the only reason why these guys are on trial is because the whole thing was captured on CCTV, and the sheer brutality of what that footage must reveal could be a deep youtube stain on this country when it gets released in court.

Police Evidence goes ‘missing’

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsPolice Evidence goes ‘missing’A police notebook containing crucial first-interview evidence of a woman's alleged sexual abuse at the hands of three Rotorua police disappeared just after its contents were discussed with a senior detective accused of covering up for the trio, a jury heard yesterday. Former police inspector Raymond Sutton told the High Court at Hamilton that he spoke with Louise Nicholas in 1993 - at the request of her father - about two incidents of sexual abuse against her. Mrs Nicholas told Mr Sutton - then a relieving senior sergeant - about being sexually abused by a former police officer at Murupara in the early 1980s, then spoke of sexual abuse at the hands of Rotorua officers Clint Rickards, Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum (two of whom are currently in prison on gang rape charges – is this what they meant by ‘get better work stories’). When Sutton was told to hand over the case to CIB chief John Dewar, the notebook was suddenly lost and the last time Sutton can recall having seen it was when he was meeting with Dewar, briefing him on the case. So this evidence goes missing the moment Dewar was briefed on the case, that’s …. interesting. The case that John Dewar attempted to defeat the course of justice continues today, I’ve said it once, gosh darn it, I’ll say it again – we need an independent Police complaints authority because relying on the cops to investigate other cops just doesn’t make much sense.

Off with his head!

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsOff with his head!Cabinet minister David Benson-Pope seems certain to lose his job after admitting he told Environment Ministry head Hugh Logan he could not work with communications manager Madeleine Setchell. That admission yesterday in Parliament contradicts statements he made to reporters earlier in the week. He said on Monday that Mr Logan knew nothing of his view when he made the decision to remove Ms Setchell from the job because her partner is the chief press secretary of National leader John Key. He now says he did have a coversation and made it clear he wouldn’t be as ‘open and frank’ with Ms Setchell, if this is true David Benson-Pope has go, if a Cabinet Minister is caught out lying to the media over an issue as important as neutral public service positions, that Minister has to go, it is a matter of principle.

It Begins

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsIt Begins!Terror suspects will be held for up to 56 days without charge and the country's first single border force created under surprise moves by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to counter the rapidly growing security threat to Britain. He was accused of threatening a return to internment with the "draconian" proposal for a sharp increase in the maximum 28-day detention period. To the anger of civil liberties groups and opposition parties, the Prime Minister suggested it could even be doubled if a national emergency was called. Here was I thinking that you could make your citizens safer by not having invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and perhaps look to some sort of rehabilitation of that situation by apologizing and leaving, but no, apparently the suspension of Habeas Corpus for two months is the solution.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Nothing to do with Global warming whatsoever

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsNothing to do with Global warming whatsoeverAs Britain lies awash with floods, having to dole out bottled water to those without running supplies, other parts of Europe are using the bottled stuff while being roasted in a deadly heatwave. Up to 500 people are estimated to have died across Hungary in the past week. Tune into Talkback radio and they will tell you, hand on heart that this has NOTHING to do with global warming whatsoever.

US 'ignored' UK rendition protest

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsUS 'ignored' UK rendition protestBritish concerns did not appear to "materially" affect US actions in its "war on terror", the UK's intelligence and security committee has said. The committee, which reports to the prime minister, was probing possible UK involvement in rendition flights. It said America's "lack of regard" for UK concerns had "serious implications" for future intelligence relations. Well that’s not much consolation for the thousands of people who have been kidnapped and taken off to secret CIA torture prisons somewhere now is it? The US refused to listen to the UK, the UK had a moral position to take at that point, and it was to walk away from the Iraq debacle, but once again the US got its own way leaving the UK wringing their hands with piss poor excuses.

Cops want kids in prison

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsCops want kids in prisonSome of the provisions in a bill making children as young as 12 responsible for their crimes have the support of the Police Association. The association did back the bill's measure for the age of criminal responsibility to be lowered to cover 12 and 13-year-olds because under present law police were powerless to intervene with children at risk of becoming more serious offenders. What a surprise, cops want tasers, the powers to fingerprint anyone randomly, get their mates in the SIS to spy on NZers, create road side quasi searches with drug driving powers and now want kids in prison, is this what they meant when they said ‘get better work stories’, and who are these stories for, George Orwell? The Police and their hunger for new powers knows no end.

Teen alone and still missingPolice and CYF are under fire for the way they have handled the disappearance of a teenager.Fifteen-year-old Jalani Brown-Pridham has been missing for nine days after running away from a CYF residential course run by actor Jim Moriarty, in Wellington. Jalani's considered to be at risk but police didn't even have a photo of him until until he was missing for more than a week. Isn’t it funny, the cops are pushing in the first news story to throw kids in prison when they can’t even properly look after the teenagers they currently should be protecting.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Government retreat on banning large anonymous political donations sparks anger (and so it should)

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsGovernment retreat on banning large anonymous political donations sparks anger (and so it should)There was an angry response yesterday to a realisation that new legislation reforming election finance laws falls short of what was initially foreshadowed by Labour. Contrary to early recommendations on the bill by Justice Minister Mark Burton in a Cabinet paper, political parties are still able to accept unlimited anonymous donations from any person, trust or organisation.Mr Burton had recommended that anonymous donations be restricted to below particular disclosure thresholds: $10,000 for political parties and $1000 for individual candidates. However, under the bill, tabled on Monday, limits of anonymous donations will apply only to outside groups that want to campaign during election year and will be set at $500. A spokesman for the Coalition for Open Government, Steven Price, said: "We are appalled the centrepiece of the bill has been dropped and the promise to make secret trusts and donations more transparent has been broken." Transparent democratic process demands that everyone should know who is funding which political party, that way we can guard against undue influence and the dangers of plutocracy with the gap between rich and poor growing astronomically (10% of NZ now owns over 50% of the wealth) the principle of one person one vote must be upheld by a frame work of rules that limit the influence of money by at least keeping the process as transparent as possible, that Labour have backed down is gutless move that only benefits them and National.

Shhhh – it’s only rape

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsShhhh – it’s only rapeThe final chapter in the police sex scandal is being aired before a High Court jury in Hamilton. John Dewar - the former head of the Rotorua CIB - is accused of attempting to cover up claims by Louise Nicholas that she was raped and sexually assaulted by several police officers, not once, but four times. Dewar was once the boss of Rotorua's crime squad, responsible for putting accused people before the courts. Dame Margaret Bazley in her report on Police Culture, found numerous examples of cops covering up for other cops in a culture of silence when it comes investigating each other, it is only just one more example as to why we need an independent police complaints authority in this country because cops investigating cops = shhhh.

The Bulgarian Six have been released!

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsThe Bulgarian Six have been released!Six Bulgarian medics convicted of infecting Libyan children with HIV arrived home in Sofia last night after being freed by Libya under a deal with the European Union. Their release after eight years in captivity ends what Libya's critics called a human rights scandal and lifts a barrier to attempts by the long-isolated north African state to complete a process of normalizing ties with the outside world. These six brave health volunteers who stepped forward to try and help a country lacking in basic health standards were shamefully used as scapegoats when those woeful standards exacerbated an HIV outbreak amongst children. Instead of critically analyzing how their own inadequacies created this outbreak, the Libyan government tortured confessions out of the six Bulgarians and then put them on trial. Their release is a part way cleansing of this dreadful shame put on them, a full apology and admission of guilt by the Libyan government would cleanse the other half.

Survival show faces 'fake' claim

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsSurvival show faces 'fake' claimChannel 4 in Britain is to investigate a claim that it misled viewers in a survival series, in the latest allegation of reality being manipulated on a TV show. Born Survivor featured British adventurer Bear Grylls dealing with "perilous situations" in the wild. But a crew member told the Sunday Times some nights were spent in hotels. As Television dreams became unbelievable by new ‘media savvy’ generations, TV has started framing reality televsion as reality, when of course it is not, it is a hyper-reality with only the fast action moments edited together, none of the boring moments that fill 90% of normal reality. How this effects a new generation of media viewers who are now desensitized to ‘normal reality’ and how it will play out on the behaviour of those young minds will no doubt be seen in playgrounds, streets and psyche wards in the future.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

China postpones pollution report

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsChina postpones pollution reportChina has indefinitely postponed the release of an environmental report on the costs of economic development. Several local governments are reported to have objected to the release of "sensitive" information about the pollution they cause. Seeing as China now produces more pollution than America, and with air pollution in Beijing only ever falling below danger levels a couple of weeks per year, the environmental degradation caused by China’s capitalism is becoming such a major problem that China has resorted to ignoring it altogether. Now it can honestly say it has become a member of the first world club.

Israel’s founding neat for Palestinians

Alt Tv/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsIsrael’s founding neat for PalestiniansA school text book for Arab children in Israel has sparked an outcry among rightist Jews by including a reference for the first time to the Palestinian view of the Jewish state's founding as a "catastrophe". The book, designed for use in schools this year, is aimed at eight to nine-year-old Arab children in Israel's largely separate public school system. Arab citizens make up about a fifth of Israel's population of seven million. Seeing as 700 000 Palestinians fled or were expelled in 1948, I can’t see how describing the impact of the founding of Israel could be described as anything less than a ‘catastrophe’ for the Palestinian people. What do these right wing Israeli’s want to call it, ‘A walk in the park’ for Palestinians, “a pleasant day out” for Palestinians, ‘That day we lost the lot but won’t hold a grudge’ for Palestinians? Let them have their catastrophe, they are clearly living it.

Parole Board Judge piss poor

Alt TV/Fleet FM Breakfast NewsParole Board Judge piss poorMany of the 38 members of the parole board, including chairman Judge David Carruthers are in Wellington this week for a two-day training seminar, which is part of the board's response to the criticism over the management of double murderer Graeme Burton's parole. While the worth of parole had been questioned after the Burton case, Judge Carruthers said a well-run parole system remained the best way for convicted criminals to re-enter society after serving their sentences."There are 231 murderers now on parole. If they weren't, if we had life without parole, that's another prison, half-a-billion dollars, and $20 million a year looking after them," he said. While one could agree that Parole is a good way of creating an incentive for good behaviour and some type of rehabilitation, surely to have little else than bean counter cost arguments as your only evidence is of no solace whatsoever to the victims of those released who go on a rampage. “It’s sad my son had to die, but his death helped save the Government half a billion because we let his killer out early”, just seems a little cold. And if this is the way David Carruthers is making his decisions, then he simply is not right for the job. We only want to release prisoners if we are as certain as we can be that they won’t hurt other people (a process we could make easier for ourselves if we invested resources into rehabilitation courses and paid for better environments in prisons), but to release prisoners because it’s costing us money is just insane and a dreadful sin to commit on our citizens who become their victims.